The Girl Next Door Chapter 29

Just three days after Kate’s hockey game, she got a phone call at school from Sidney during lunch.
“Hey Katie,” Sidney said sadly.
“What’s wrong?” she asked him, hearing the tone in his voice.
“I’ve got some bad news,” he told her.
“What’s wrong? Are you injured?” she asked him, now worried.
“No, I’m fine, but Mario’s not,” he told her.
“What’s wrong? Sidney, you need to tell me!” she told him.
At this point, all of her friends looked at her, at the sound of Sidney’s name.
“Mario’s announcing his retirement today,” he told her.
“No,” she definitively said. “No.”
“He told me this morning at breakfast,” he told her. “Kate, I honestly had no idea. He was at practice two days ago, he never gave me any indication at all.”
“Oh my God,” she said, her eyes filling with tears. “It can’t be. I never thought he would retire now, I thought he would wait until the end of the season. Ziggy retired last week, and now Mario!”
“There’s a press conference at two this afternoon,” he told her. “I just thought you’d want to know.”
“Thanks, Sidney,” she told him. “I’ll see you later.”
“Bye Katie,” he told her.
Kate hung up her phone, and her friends started to ask her questions.
“Katie, what’s wrong?” Carly asked her.
“Mario’s announcing his retirement this afternoon,” she said, a tear rolling down her face.
“No,” everyone said. Carly put her arm around Kate to comfort her.
“Sidney just called me to tell me,” she explained. “Press conference at two this afternoon. I’ve gotta call my team, practice this afternoon is canceled. I’m not missing this.”
With a few tears rolling down her face, she got up and found Andrew in the cafeteria, and told him. He gave her a hug, and said he’d start the phone chain up, and he agreed with her that practice should be canceled. Kate called Mike, a junior on the team, and left him a message. Then Kate called her mom and told her the news. Sarah said that Nathalie had called her just minutes ago and had told her. Kate asked her mom if she could call the school to get her out early, since her last period was free anyway. Her mom said she would, and that she’d pick her up at 1:45.
*****
That afternoon, as Kate watched the press conference on television with her mom, she cried. Kate rarely cried, so this had to be big. She saw the team sitting there in the crowd at the conference, all of them with sad looks on their faces, realizing a legacy was over. Kate had tears rolling down her cheeks the whole time, and so did her mom. Later that night, Sidney came over and watched some TV with her (including two Lemieux specials on FSN), just sitting with her and wrapping his arm around her to comfort her. Kate wrapped her arm around him and cuddled up next to him, and it was there that she knew she would be with Sidney for a long time. How he comforted her, and stayed with her, and dried her tears, she just knew.
*****
The next night, the Penguins played the Capitals. Kate went with her parents, all of them wearing their Mario Lemieux jerseys. The Penguins played a superb game, beating the Capitals 8-1. During intermission, they played a Lemieux highlight video, and everyone in the arena stood up and gave Mario a standing ovation. Kate had a few tears fall down her cheeks, and so did many others. It was a great game, and the team played with so much emotion and power. The guys even looked different, a lot more determined than usual, and their win was a great way for them to honor Mario.
*****
The next couple of weeks were busy ones, with Kate’s finals at school and lots of hockey. After Mario’s retirement, Maxime Talbot was sent back down to Wilkes-Barre, much to everyone’s dismay. Everyone had thought Max was back up here on a permanent basis, but obviously Coach Therrien had other plans. Everyone was upset, especially Sidney and Kate, since they were all great friends. The Penguins, after a long and terrible losing streak, won their last two games before the Olympic break, both of them on the road. It really pumped the team up, and it was a shame that they had to go on a two and a half week break. The Olympic break meant all of the guys were going home, going to Wilkes-Barre (lots still had apartments there) to play or watch, or going to play at the Olympics, like some did. Sidney was going home too, to spend time with his family. Many girlfriends would have been bitter about that, but Kate wasn’t. He hadn’t spent quality time with his family since the summer, and was excited to be going home, but also a little upset since he had to leave Kate. The two of them said a quick good-bye, and then Sidney was off to the airport, to go home.